Lounge Sketch Redux

It’s been about 5 days since our sketch presentations, and I had presented idea number 3 as my idea for the lounge. Whilst the idea of people remixing sounds and having dancers create movement on the spot to these new sounds seems like a fun idea, it lacks an actual concept behind it; ie. no clear purpose and no clear audience.

So I took a step back, back to the beginning, and brainstormed a crazy looking mind map of all the things I could think of regarding the lounge, and this, combined with lounge brainstorming with Karen on the train, led to a new idea:

Underground Sounds

Underground Sounds (working title) is a sound-based interactive game for kids (most likely under the age of 10 or 12).

It works on the premise of a sound installation, where a lounge is centred in a darkened room where the lounge is spotlighted so that the kids will sit down on that spot. Once they are in place, the spotlight dims to darkness and the kids are aurally introduced to dripping, echo-y sounds of liquid falling in a cave, then the sound of bats flying around and above the lounge, which then settles to reveal a disembodied voice that introduces them to the new world that they’ve been transported to: the Labyrinth.

Kids must find their way out of the Labyrinth by answering a series of sound-based questions, which would be answered by either strategically placed mics, or motion sensor buttons in a particular area in the room/on the lounge.

An example of what children would encounter in Underground Sounds is a large and annoying house fly that has followed the children from the normality and safety of the start of their journey, and they must become active participants by getting up from the lounge and following the sound of this intrepid traveller around the room until it leads them on a zig-zagging tiring chase back to the lounge, where the fly stops buzzing, and the children must pick the correct seat/pattern on the lounge (ie. by saying their answer out loud) that will take them to the next portion of their journey.

Since this sound installation/game is called Underground Sounds, it would include all sorts of subterranean places and dwellings such as caves, underwater landscapes/soundscapes, what’s hidden beneath trap doors, sewer and tunnel systems, and perhaps even something like the London underground. These ideas, particularly that of the underwater lounge and the trap door idea, is influenced by pictures I found of underwater lounges and green rooms whilst researching the lounge (see my Diigo links for more).

I was hoping to incorporate Greek myths, folk tales and other mythologies into the sound game so that the children get to learn something new, run around for a bit, and most importantly, have fun.

Initial Sketch for The Lounge

Initial Sketch for the Lounge for MDCM3002 (as of 18 March 2009).

Project Ideas:

1. The first significant idea I had was a combination of earlier snippets of ideas and experiences of sound. In regards to the lounge, a person/dancer is plunged into darkness in the attic of their house. The only object that is large and familiar to her (and to us, the audience) is an old lounge in the centre of the room. The piece begins with a memory from childhood on the lounge and as she moves/dances through this, other memories and the objects attached to them come to mind (all in the dark, but the audience sees her as a silhouette).

The soundscape (done through 5.1 surround) follows her journey and is it through sound that the dancer and the audience gets a feel for what the object is in the attic and the memory behind it. This is all interspersed with instances where the lounge plays an important role in her recollections, much like that of the Ariadne’s thread (from the Deleuze extract last year). The darkness and the silhouettes are there to emphasise the aural components of memory. This would ideally be a sound installation in an attic-sized room.

2. The second idea: I want to explore how sound affects a space, the atmosphere and the people within that space, ie. with their state of mind/being. Instead of a narrative-based idea, this one is more conceptual in that I take the idea of the lounge in regards to one its more common uses; rest and relaxation.

I want to create a space and a matching soundscape that delivers this safe, cool and calm environment. This idea was inspired by chilling out in my sister’s bedroom with the window open and the cool, natural breeze of a summer night (albeit a crazy, fickle Sydney summer). This combined with the night time ambience really wants to make you close your eyes and let the cicadas rock you to sleep. In order to achieve this, I was thinking of a sound installation with a comfortable lounge (or two) where the temperature, lighting and placement of familiar sounds such as these play in the room.

3. This is an extension or spin-off of the second idea. It is still a space with the lounge as the focal point, but it is one where the concept of the lounge is there for recreation and entertainment. This is an interactive sound installation where the observer moves from being somewhat passive to an active part of their experience. The user has a device (ideally using a Mini Kaoss Pad ) and, using the metaphor of the lounge and remote control, can remix, manipulate and change the sounds that are emanating from the speakers. I’m hoping to use a combination of night-time ambience, techno loops and guitars as the sounds that the user can adjust with the Mini Kaoss Pad due to its touch pad interface.

Another dimension to this idea would be either changes to lighting in sync to the sounds being produced and mixed or a small group of dancers performing from a transparent ‘screen’ in front of the lounge in time to the user-mixed sounds and would trickle into the ‘lounge room’, breaking the fourth wall and dancing around and amongst the user/the lounge.

Style Manifesto: Likes

‘Dominik Eulberg – Stelldichein des Westerwälder Vogelchores’ is a 9m31s track which would best be described as bird techno. Dominik Eulberg is a German DJ/producer as well as a park ranger who records bird sounds and puts them together to compose a song using only these sounds. What I like about this track is that it’s weird, a little unusual and is a different way of thinking about birds, nature and rhythm. This reflects my own personal style in that I like the idea of using sounds not usually associated with ‘normal’ music sounds and creating something new, different and catchy.

Dislikes

‘Rihanna copies Fefe Dobson……….. this chick has no shame’ is a YouTube video that is essentially a 10m14s slideshow that disparages one artist in relation to another, all to 2 songs of another pop artist (Pink). I highly dislike this piece because it looks tacky (ie. the lacklustre font choices and colour), the content is stupid, and it’s way too long. There’s even a small audio section of low quality that has shallow girls talking then one of them vomiting. It’s pointless, sad and time-consuming. How does this fit into my manifesto? It’s a veritable ‘DON’T’ list: don’t be hating; don’t drag on; don’t be tacky (the fonts/colour choices still make me cringe).

Practice Manifesto

I have learnt that research and bouncing ideas off with other people is a good idea, it helps with conceptualisation and is something I should do more of. I also like funny, quirky ideas that grab people’s attention (ie. “stickiness”) and making use of material (images, video, sound) I have made/collected out of fun and putting it into a new and different context. I like creating interesting sounds out of something normal and ‘mundane’ and clean and finely-tuned work. I dislike cheesy stuff and messy ‘loose ends’ where things can be too short in some parts and too long in others. I’ve learnt from my peers that strong conceptualisation and research is key, as is time management and just getting out there and doing/making stuff; all of which I should develop more this year.